Et Le Navire Va: Protocol and a Bike Ride

Wednesday, December 12, 2012 – Protocol and a Bike Ride

My first couple of days at post were pretty hectic. I went with my counterpart to do protocol, which basically means going to meet important people in my community, introducing myself and explaining why I’m here. I’ve still got a couple people to meet, like the Prefet – the guy who is in charge of the district. We’re waiting until we can get every new person in the cluster together for a meeting, since they all fall under the purview of the Prefet. It’s pretty hard to get a meeting with him though.

So far I met the mayor, commissaire of the local security, and Lamido, or traditional leader of the community. I also met a bunch of other people in passing, including someone from the ministry of education and people from the community youth center that I’ll be working with.

The Lamido was really interesting. We had to go through a couple of different people before we were able to talk to him. He was in a courtyard, sitting on a really nice metal lawn chair on top of a rug. Everyone else, about 20 guys, was sitting on the ground all around him, not including the six guys outside the entrance to the courtyard. We had to take our shoes off before we entered the area. They actually gave me a plastic lawn chair to sit on, so I was the only guy not on the ground other than the Lamido. I’m not sure if it was because I’m with the Peace Corps or what, but it was kind of awkward sitting up there with everyone else, including my counterpart, sitting on the ground.

Either way, everyone I met was very friendly. My counterpart was really helpful, introducing me and explaining who I was and what I was doing there, so I only had to say a few words. I also had a letter from the Peace Corps to give to them, that included a pamphlet explaining what the Peace Corps does in Cameroon in general. The meetings were all pretty quick, and I got offers from everyone to talk to them if I needed any help.

After that, I went with my counterpart back to the community youth center and was introduced to the classroom of students. There were mostly girls except for one guy, ranging between 13 and 25. We were there for a bit more than an hour, and once again, he did most of the talking. He is a bit long-winded, but a really nice guy, and seems to really care about what he’s doing. I basically introduced myself, talked a bit about my background, what sort of things I would be teaching them, and asked if they had any questions. At this point they are wanting me to teach English, Health (including sexual and reproductive health and AIDS), life skills, and microfinance. Obviously I have more experience in some things than in others, but I have a lot of resources available to me, including other PCVs that can help.

Finally, we went to the market, where he helped me find sheets and general stuff for the kitchen and my house. I got some pots, silverware, cups, a bucket, and other stuff like that. I spent quite a bit of money on all of it. The sheets were also pretty terrible. The bottom one was weird. It was supposed to be put on like a glove or something, covering the entire mattress, but there was only a four-foot slit down one side. That meant I had to shove the entire mattress into that little area, so I pretty much just had to rip the sheet down the side. Plus after being on my mattress for only a few days, it started to rip on the top. I bought a new one in Garoua afterwards, but not fitted, so I wake up with it just bundled all around me. At least it is a lot better quality.

A girl in my cluster lives in Larbak, which is only about 15 or 16 km from Guider. It was her birthday a couple of weeks ago, so my post-mate and I rode our bikes out there. I have to say, I am definitely out of shape, because I was dying by the time we got there. It was slightly up hill basically the whole time, and I had to take three breaks on the way there. In my defense, the road was dirt and very rocky, and even though this is the ‘cold season’, it is still 95-100 F everyday. The way back was way easier though, and I didn’t even need one break. It helps when you’re mostly going downhill. I did, unfortunately, get one flat tire on the way there and another one the way back. That happens when your bike tube is pretty much covered in patches. We stayed the night there, went to her market, drank some Bil-Bil (locally-made beer), and made some ‘Mexican food’ (or as close as you can get out here). It was a pretty fun night.

I still haven’t caught up to the past week, but that will have to wait until next post.